Why did you start introducing bottles?

I'm just after some stories please as to why you introduced bottles to your breast fed baby's feeding regime. This can be either bottles of expressed milk or bottles of formula.

Did it have the desired affect or were there any negatives?

I have a 10 week old DS who is EBF and a few people have told me to give bottles (for various reasons) but I really don't want to. I'm not anti-bottles or anything like that, it's just because as far as I can see I have no reason to.

I'd like to know too! I'm EBF my 11 day old but would like to eventually add a bottle in of expressed breast milk. Is it too early? I just want others to be able to feed her and not have her too dependent on me. S

At about 8 or 10 weeks I gave expressed milk so I could go out for the evening. DH would give one bottle at bedtime so I could have an evening free once in a while. But if you don't fancy that then there's no need to feel pressured.

Feeding was taking an hour and I was having to feed every two hours (prem baby, prolonged jaundice) so we introduced a bottle to top up and then to do the odd feed give me a little more sleep. We kept doing the odd bottle here and there until my DD started refusing a bottle around 12 weeks. Now at 7 months she still refuses but goes longer between feeds and sleeps through so I can go out of an evening (but it still would be nice if DH could give her a feed so I could have just one lie in!).

Do what works for you, bottles can be a faff but can also give you a much needed break that enables you to BF for longer, in the long run.

I gave a bottle (well, someone else did of course!) when I wasn't around my baby for longer than he could go between feeds. Once at 10 weeks, once at about 4 months, once at about 8 months. Never needed to again.

There's no reason to if you don't want to.

There's a bit of a myth that if you don't get them used to bottles, they won't take one. I think it's just luck though - some babies refuse bottles at around 4 months old and never take one, but it doesn't seem to be related to whether they've had one before or not. Obviously fully bottle fed babies don't refuse, but that seems a bit drastic.

We did because I'm going back to work after 6 months of mat leave and I don't want DD to starve. Hence we tried bottles early on (6 weeks or so) to get her used to it. Didn't work, she's now 5 months and a bottle refuser and we're going straight to a cup. Hey ho, it was worth a try I suppose ...

I never gave a bottle and now that DS is 8mo, he's using a sippy cup for water. So he'll never have a bottle.

My MIL was horrified that I didn't introduce a bottle but to me it just seemed like more of a faff and something else I'd have to eventually get rid of.

Many people say that a baby "won't" take a bottle but as with a lot of things with babies, it's about perseverance. I thought DS would never drink water but after (what felt like) the 100th try, he sipped away and that was that.

eagle Trust me, we've been persistent with trying to get DD to take a bottle. So. Bloody. Persistent. Would you like to come and try "perseverance" yourself and see if you have more success???

I think people who have children who do what they're supposed to do (sleep, take a bottle, toilet train, whatever) should refrain from assuming that children who don't do what they're supposed to are behaving that way due to a failure by the parents.

If you don't want to then don't! I did because I didn't want her to be a bottle refuser which tbh if you leave them too long the majority do become! I wanted the option to do a bit of work or go out occasionally without her.

She now has a bottle once a day at bedtime. She takes 9.5oz at 8pm and sleeps through to about 5ish.

Mine started in bottles because he was in nicu. I worked hard to get breastfeeding going when he was discharged, and so I avoided bottles until I started working again at four months. He had one bottle a week while I worked an afternon. At seven months, he seems to prefer a soft-spout cup while I am at work, but I think really he still prefers breastfeeding (hurrah for that at 1, 3 and 5am).

We gave DD1 a bottle of expressed milk before bed from 12 weeks. She took an hour and a half to feed so I felt like I was constantly breastfeeding. She had been sleeping 4 hours between feeds at night so we decided to try a bottle of expressed milk. It worked for us and within a week or so she was sleeping 10 hours. The other reason was so DH could do that one feed at night. It was so lovely to be able to share that with him!

Sorry, I meant to say that DD1 had been sleeping 4 hours between feeds and then went down to an hour/ hour and a half! Introducing the bottle of expressed milk made no difference to breastfeeding. We still made it to 12.5 months, of which 25 weeks was exclusive.